Amy H. Carberry Gallery Artist in Residence – April 1 – 30, 2022

STCC’s Amy H. Carberry Fine Arts Gallery Announces Inaugural Artist-in-Residence
with Visual Artist, Donnabelle Casis

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Time and space can be two important elements to a visual artist who wants to experiment and create innovative work. For the month of April in the Amy H. Carberry Fine Arts Gallery at Springfield Technical Community College, Florence artist Donnabelle Casis will have both time and space to create, explore, and produce new work. This inaugural artist-in-residence opportunity is a unique experience for both artist and gallery; her art studio in Florence was too small for large-scale work, and since the pandemic, the gallery has been exploring ways to both serve and support local and regional artists in non-traditional ways; first, in the form of virtual interviews, and second, in this “gallery as a studio space” opportunity.

Donnabelle Casis, whose artwork was first installed at the Carberry Gallery in March 2020 only to close after two days due to the pandemic, is a Filipina-American artist living and working in Western Massachusetts. She earned her MFA in painting from the University of Washington, and her work has been included in national and international solo and group exhibitions. Casis has received numerous awards and grants, including the Neddy Artist Fellowship for painting granted by the Behnke Foundation and grants from the Northampton Arts Council/Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her work is included in several public and private collections.

Throughout the month of April, the 1,000 square foot Carberry Gallery will serve as an art studio for Donnabelle Casis while she explores new and larger materials. Casis explains, “My interest in the tangible universe and what transcends experience helps me understand my place in the world and beyond.” Trained as a painter, she plans to use the gallery/studio space to expand on her mastery of 2-dimensional artwork to include large 3-dimensional artwork. She will be working in the gallery, which is closed to the public while she creates her large-scale hanging mobile.

The gallery will reopen on Saturday, April 30 for an opening reception from 12noon to 4pm. This event is free and open to the public.

The first week in May the gallery will be open to visitors interested in seeing the new work created by Donnabelle Casis.
Gallery hours:
Monday, May 2 and Tuesday, May 3, 10am to 1pm
Wednesday, May 4, 12noon – 3pm
Thursday, May 5, 11am – 2pm
Friday, May 6, 10am – 1pm

Her current paintings explore the relationship of personal identity to visual systems of signification in both ancient and modern cultures. She draws from various sources such as Filipino tribal tattoos and textiles, facial recognition software, cosmology, and the philosophy of metaphysics, among others. Filipino tribal imagery is tied to storytelling, marks of accomplishment, and societal roles. Facial recognition software maps physical characteristics which determine one’s visual identity. Casis says, “I am fascinated by visual perception and how meaning is derived from what we see. I look for hidden geometries that may connect discrete perspectives to form a greater whole.”

Carberry Conversations, presented by Springfield Technical Community College’s Amy H. Carberry Fine Arts Gallery, continues on Monday, April 26 at 11am with a virtual conversation between artist-in-residence Donnabelle Casis and associate professor and gallery coordinator Sondra Peron.

Link to the Monday, April 26, 11am Zoom interview: stcc.io/conversations

All Carberry Conversations are free and open to the public via Zoom.

Carberry Conversations is a series of virtual talks throughout the academic year between Peron and several exhibiting artists whose work has been on view at the Amy H. Carberry Fine Arts Gallery since 2013. Conceived in response to the ongoing pandemic, these conversations function as a space to connect working artists and photographers to STCC and the Greater Springfield community covering a wide variety of topics including, origin stories, the impact of current events on artistic process, and the function of art and photography during times of crisis.

This special artist-in-residence exhibition and all associated events are supported in part by the School of Liberal and Professional Studies (LAPS) and the Fine Arts (A.A.) program.

About the Gallery

The Amy H. Carberry Fine Arts Gallery at Springfield Technical Community College features works by artists of local and national repute as well as STCC student work. The gallery is located in Building 28, first floor, on the Pearl Street side of the STCC campus. The gallery is supported in part by funding from the School of Liberal and Professional Studies. Find the Amy H. Carberry Fine Arts Gallery on Facebook or follow on Twitter @STCCArtGallery.

About Springfield Technical Community College

Founded in 1967 and located on 35 acres of the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, STCC is a major resource for the economic vitality of Western Massachusetts. As the only technical community college in Massachusetts, STCC, a designated Hispanic Serving Institution and an Achieving the Dream Leader College, offers a variety of career programs unequaled in the state. STCC’s highly regarded transfer programs in business, engineering, liberal arts, science, and technology continue to provide the most economical options for students pursuing a four-year degree. With an annual enrollment of more than 7,700 day, evening, weekend, and online students, STCC is a vibrant campus rich in diversity.

For more information about STCC, visit www.stcc.edu. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@S_T_C_C).

Photo credit: Isabella Dellolio https://www.facebook.com/isabelladelloliophotography